Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox have the best offense in baseball and it's not close. 

They hold the top spot in runs scored, average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. 

With the best offense in baseball, you'd expect the Red Sox to have a player in the MVP conversation, but not three.

Friday night's game between the Boston Red Sox and the Houston Astros showed us just why Boston has the potential to take the American League pennant: timely hitting and clutch performances from their big men, Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez. 

The Boston Red Sox season is officially half over and with a 47-34 record (third best in all of baseball) the club is second in the AL East behind the New York Yankees.

It's been an up-and-down season for the Red Sox, but after a disastrous start this group of 25 has emerged to be just as good as everyone thought they would be.

Let's take a look at which 10 Boston players are most responsible for carrying the team the team through the first 81 games.

Three weeks ago I wrote an article talking about the panic Boston Red Sox fans were experiencing and the excitement Baltimore Orioles fans were having over the start to their respective team's seasons.

In his first two years in the Major Leagues, Boston Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury hasn’t been a guy who has flashed much power. In 2008 and 2009, Ellsbury hit a combined 17 home runs and had an ISO (isolated power) of .114 each season.

"It's not a sprint; it's a marathon."

With every new baseball season comes new beginnings, a clean slate and new opportunities for teams to make their mark on a young season.

Nothing can jump start a team in the right direction more than getting off to a good start. Whether it means going undefeated through the first week of the season or starting the year on a big winning streak, every victory can help a team and their journey to be the best during the season. 

They say good starting pitching is contagious. After starting the year with a record of 2-5 and a cumulative ERA of 7.24 in the first 10 games, the members of the rotation have gone 6-2, with an extraordinary ERA of 1.65, in the last 10 games.

Their performance has been even more extraordinary over the last eight games, compiling a mark of 6-1, with a 1.01 ERA.

After an 0-6 start to the 2011 Major League Season, the Boston Red Sox have finally come around and are starting to play like the team most people thought they'd be: unstoppable.

Just 12 days ago, Daisuke Matsuzaka was booed off the mound by the hometown Boston crowd after allowing seven runs in just two innings of work, on Saturday night, Dice-K threw his second consecutive one hitter as the Red Sox blanked the Los Angeles Angeles 5-0.

The Red Sox consecutive-game streak was broken Thursday night, but the Red Sox got right back to work last night as staff ace Jon Lester started a new one.

No, obviously, I’m not talking about a winning streak because, as we all know, the Red Sox won on Thursday night. The streak I’m talking about has to do with the starting rotation.

Well, this certainly isn't the start anyone expected, right?

The Boston Red Sox now sit at 7-11, are in the cellar and are four games off the pace of the New York Yankees in the AL East race.

For the first week of the season, it was easy to be relaxed and beg those in "The Nation" to remain calm because it was still early. After the second week, even the optimistic became nervous.